British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn wants ‘war powers act’ to restrict military intervention after Syria strikes
Reports from Washington have suggested US President Trump considers himself ‘locked and loaded’ for future military action against the Assad regime
British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has questioned whether humanitarian intervention can ever be a legal justification for launching military action, and called for a “war powers act” that would force future UK governments to seek approval from parliament.
Speaking on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show, the Labour leader repeated his assertion that the bombing raids launched by the UK early on Saturday morning, in cooperation with the US and France, may have been illegal.
If we want to get the moral high ground … then we need to abide by international law
He asked: “If we want to get the moral high ground, as a country with a history of international involvement, then we need to abide by international law, and I say to the foreign secretary, and I say to the prime minister, where is the legal basis for this?”
Legal advice published by the government on Saturday argued that in exceptional circumstances governments can take military action “in order to alleviate overwhelming humanitarian suffering”.
However, Corbyn, a former chair of the Stop the War Coalition and long-time opponent of western intervention, said: “The legal basis would have to be self-defence, or the authority of the UN Security Council. Humanitarian intervention is a legally debatable concept at the present time.
“I think parliament should have a say in this, and the prime minister could quite easily have done that. What we need in this country is something more robust, like a war powers act, so that governments do get held to account by parliament for what they do in our name.”